Rare chance of island life snapped up

A RARE slice of North Queensland island life has sold to the tourism arm of a family-run business that has a strong investment footprint in Townsville.

The only home on the 4sq km Pelorus Island, northeast of Townsville, was put on the market late last year.

The fully furnished two-bedroom home, which comes with a speedboat and tractor, went under unconditional contract on Friday with the Chris Morris-owned The Morris Group, owners of the Northern ­Escapes Collection including The Ville Resort-Casino and Orpheus ­Island Lodge.

The Morris Group's executive director and Mr Morris's daughter Hayley said her family had bought the residential lease of the home for now, but in the future, may look at other opportunities.

Hayley Morris, daughter of The Ville developer Chris Morris, and Director of the Morris Family Foundation.

"We've been told that it has the best beaches and snorkelling in the Palm Island group," she said.

"We'd love to take our Orpheus Island guests to the beaches of Pelorus.

"We've taken a bit of a punt acquiring the island so hopefully in time we'll be able to invest more in that space to complement the other investments in our Northern Escape Collection."

The current owners, Tony and Vicki Briggs, bought the home when they owned and operated a Great Barrier Reef cruise business.

They used the property as a stopover for their cruise ships, taking guests to the beach to snorkel.

They have since used the home as a holiday house after selling their cruise business in 2014.

According to property records, the home sold for $320,000 in December 2003 and $280,000 in May 1994.

Selling agent James Pascoe from Colliers International would not disclose the latest sale price but said it was "close to expectation".

"We had more than 100 inquiries, which is a considerable amount," he said.

Mr Pascoe said the sale was the first time Colliers International had sold a piece of an island of this nature.

"We've done a fair bit of homework on other options that were available and didn't really come across anything else like this," he said.

"As it's the Orpheus Island neighbour, it made sense for them (Morris Group) to grab it."

The Morris Group is expected to take official ownership of the property in the next month.